hearts like the one in me ♪ ♪ that's okay let's see how you do it ♪ ♪ put up your dukes, let's get down to it ♪ ♪ hit me with your best shot ♪ ♪ why don't you hit me with your best shot ♪ ♪ hit me with your best shot, fire away ♪ ♪ imus in the morning ♪ >> welcome to our brave new world of entitlement, it starts when you are very young. good morning, everyone. the taxpayer now feeds one in four of our nation's children. 20 million youngsters get food stamp benefits. we've never seen this before and the numbers are rising. the gun summit today.

expect action soon. joe biden warns that the president may bypass congress to get something done. watch out for an executive order. niss nissan, a japanese company gets a 1.4 billion dollar loan from the taxpayer. the electric car, the leaf, gets the money. and please, look at this, if jack lew is confirmed as treasury secretary, this will be the signature you see on the dollar bill. looks like a printing. "varney & company" is about to begin. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll wk his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and me from e great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, nd he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

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>> good morning, "varney & company" viewers, today is thursday, january the 10th. the big story of the day is guns, and just how the president will deal with the very strong calls for action. the public wants something done. how will the president get it done? joe biden brings in the n.r.a., hollywood and wal-mart and many others with a stake in the gun debate. the headline out of these talks

so far, president obama may take executive action, and step around congress and avoid the legislative process. but the the action isn't all just in d.c. the gun control debate is a national issue. just last night new york's governor cuomo called for his state to pass the toughest gun laws in the country. listen to this. >> new york state, led the way on guns once before. it was sullivan's law of 1911, which was the first in the nation gun control law, model law that required a permit for possession of a handgun. new york was the first, it's still on the books. new york led the way then, let's pass safe and fair legislation and lead the way once again in saving lives. stuart: now, that was pretty close to a standing ovation there for governor cuomo. vice-president biden's meeting with the n.r.a. this afternoon. starts at one o'clock eastern. now, in just a few minutes,

libertarian john stossel joins our company and what does he think of president obama's plan where he may use executive order? find out after the opening bell. you may see a sports headline the second time four players why not in hall of fame. eighths referendum on the steroid era, rogers clemens, barry bonds, sammy sosa didn't come close to election into the hall of fame. how is this for a number. one in four children in the united states now on food stamps. we start them young on the entitlement programs, don't we? we'll have that, full coverage, plus the opening bell coming up next on "varney & company". [ rosa ] i'm rosa and i quit smoking with chantix.

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>> all right. about a minute and a half we'll start the bawling rolling for this thursday's trading on wall street. in the news background, 371,000 new faces showed up for first time jobless benefits last week, up 4,000, that's still a very high number for this so-called recovery period. at one o'clock eastern time today, the president will nominate jack lew to be the new treasury secretary.

personally, i don't think there'll be a market impact whatsoever or change economic policy at all. i think the president is geared very much to raising be taxes, not cutting spending, and doing all he can to totally ignore the debt. that is my opinion. jack lew formally nominated at one o'clock this afternoon. as i say, i really don't expect any immediate impact on the stock market. in fact, no impact whatsoever. here is the real impact, if jack lew is indeed the new treasury secretary, if he is confirmed in that position, look on your screens, to the bottom right. that's his signature. his signature if he becomes treasury secretary will appear on all off our currency. it looks like a long elongated squiggle. it looks like a slinky, and you

can't tell that it's jack lew, thought we'd show you that, that's real impact, is it not? they're ringing the. [bell ringing] bell when they stop ringing that bell they start trading and we're expecting a flat open for the dow, but some of the big named stocks are up. apple in particular, could be a gain for apple and other big name techs are also going to move higher at that opening bell. very early going shows an uptrend, up about 9 points back to 13,400 and rising. as we focus on the market, consider tax increases we saw on january 1st. first of the year paychecks will be lower. 200 billion dollars will be takesen out of the economy this year. we've got one analyst, in fact, several, who say that that's going to hit american based department store chains, macy's, j.c. penney, for example, and let's start our market coverage this morning with nicole. macy's, any impact?

>> macy's is not really moving too much. as we noted quarie is saying virtually flat. tiffany's, the traders were noting before the opening bell and the numbers are lower and forecast. fake a look at tiffany stocks, which is probably down around 6%, but it's about that and coach will likely be to the down side as well. so, not meeting the numbers. and hold on, can you see this? i was practicing jack lew's signature. stuart: nice try. >> is that good? >> i've got to bet you're going to be seeing a lot of that loopy loop signature in about a year. thank you very much indeed. the dow industrials opened 52 points higher, 13,400, even though we're going to take 200 billion out of the economy this year, and nancy pelosi is talking about more tax increases

still to come. maybe everybody thinks that ben is just going to keep on printing, maybe that's why we're at 13-4. a disturbing number for you, makes you question what kind of society this is. humane and generous or entitlement and dependency crazy? listen to this, one in four children participated in the food stamp program in 2011 that's according to the agriculture department and census department. about 20 million children being fed by the taxpayer. mother of two, nicole petallides, libertarian, john stossel join me now. nicole, first of all to you, you had a rant yesterday about kids and the way they're being brought up. but the defenders of the food stamp program say that 20 million kids, they will be healthy kids and this helps the economy. what do you say? >> i want to a, make it clear, i'm not an insensitive person, to the people who need food stamps, they should, children go to public school and get their meals there, however, we are

raising a group of entitlement nation children. i know as a parent, i go out of my way to teach our children how they have to earn each dollar, they better get ready to work, work, work, work, fun. work, work, work, and that's their lecture all the time. they're entitled to nothing. stuart: wow. nicole, we hear you loud and clear. and comments on that? but john stossel is here, john is a libertarian, i presume that you do not like this kind of handout mentality, this kind of government feeding everybody mentality. >> it's tough to argue against food for poor people, but they've doubled it over the past four years, are we that much poorer, four times since 2001? they encourage handouts. i sent someone to job centers, four job centers, three did not offer jobs, they sent her on, but all of them said, oh, we'll help you sign up for welfare, for food stamps, once you golf

away free stuff, people want more. i had a friend who runs a charter school. kids many with free lunches are driven to school by parents in fancy cars. >> extraordinary. our society has gonna long way from your libertarian ideal. i mean, it's almost the direct opposite, isn't it, entitlement. >> it's not communism yet, not the direct opposite. >> i want to get your comment on gun atten current gun debate. vice-president joe biden said it's possible that to get something done, president obama will side step congress, he'll go around it, with an executive order to issue some kind of control of the gun situation. what do you make of that? >> well, it's why i wrote "no they can't", yes, we can just fix it with this. they had a gun control law, it didn't work and the executive order stuff. congress is supposed to make the laws. now, i can't say this is a new thing that obama did. they've always done this and maybe the worst was teddy

roosevelt and signed an order, a spelling order, enough to be spelled e-n-u-f. >> and congress overruled it, but nixon wage and price controls, jfk created the peace corps with an executive order. bush the war in iraq, stop stem cell research money, they've always done this stuff. stuart: i think the president will win on this issue, there is a clamor on the part of the public, do something. >> do something that won't help. stuart: nobody is sure what will work and what we should do, but there's a clamor to do something and the president is going to run against an ineffectual congress, an approval rating below that of a cockroach. he's on to a winner with this thing, i can't see how an executive order would be reversed or rejected.

i think's going to win. >> it's intuitive reaction, we keep passing more laws, and the recovery a slower, the burden of laws, nobody knows what they are. stuart: one of the best props you've used on your show is when you show a law and what it really is and you bring on a stack, i mean, it is feet high. >> you're probably breaking a bunch. we don't know what the laws are anymore and if you're an entrepreneur, why start a business under those conditions? >> you've got it, john. don't forget the stossel show of course called "stossel" 9 p.m. on the fox business network. here is how john will open his show tonight. >> what do you do when hit with bad publicity? >> this morning, lohan was escorted from the 10th precinct. there are specialists who deal with bad news, could they have helped after the big oil spill when the company bought said

this. >> i'd like my life back. >> can they help you during a disaster? >> oh. >> the question, is bad news really bad for business? you're-- >> you're not in hollywood. stuart: enough said. john, that's "stossel" 9 p.m. on the fox business network, thanks very much indeed. new at 10, two stories for you, first, president obama says we do not have a spending problem. really? but the congressional budget office has a list, a long list of cuts that could save the taxpayers a ton of money. top of the hour we'll tell you where we can cut, where the cbo says we can cut and save a lot. plus, it's going to get even harder to get a loan to buy a home. new rules for lenders. what are they going to have to prove before giving you a loan. that will be new at 10 coming up the top of the hour. time is money right here on "varney & company," in 30 seconds, a few other stories

we're following for you. some members of france's socialist party are having second thoughts about the 75% tax on millionaires, maybe they miss gerard depardieu. chris christie was fast to blame republicans in the house for the not passing that 60 billion dollar sandy relief bill. dan henninger, says that christie was the one who was wrong. he'll be here to explain that. would you buy chicken wings at mcdonald's? jeff flock is in chicago, he send your e-mails varney@foxbusiness.com. all right. now, i have your seven early movers for you, what's moving this morning, what's going up, going down? disappointing results for the restaurant chain ruby tuesdays, eat there a lot myself. down 6%, the chip maker, chip logic cut the forecast, better than expected profit at discount club, price smart. it's up about, what about 2%, 3% there.

entertainment technology company rovi not sure of the pronunciation, r-o-v-i, down beat. that's not good. and texas instruments a big name for you down 7%, that's a huge loss for a very big company. new rules could soon make it hard tower get vicodin made by abbott labs. and luxury retailer tiffany, 5%. the dow industrials up higher. well above 13-4 this morning. and public worker pension fund face as near 100 billion dollar shortfall and they have no solution to that problem. so, is a federal bailout-- yes, we are again talking about the state bailout possibility or option. >> no. . [laughter] [ male announcer ] at scottrade,

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plus get this document shredder free-- but only if you act right now. call the number on your screen now! >> all right. in the ol going this thursday morning, we've got a second day of gains for the dow. we're up about 40 points and that's pushes them up 13,400. time to check the price of oil, it's about, oh, look at that, now, that's a rally. $94 a barrel and that means, say goodbye to any hope of further declines in gas prices. we've already seen gas turn around from about 3.21 moving up to 3.31, with oil at 94, you can expect gas to go to 3.35 or 3.40 fairly soon. watch out for that. a new general assembly in illinois was sworn in yesterday and it faces that state's estimated 96 billion dollar pension shortfall, 96 billion just from pensions. joining us now is the ceo of the

illinois policy institute. john is a federal bailout on the way for illinois, first question, obvious question, is it coming? >> it's not coming if we can do anything about it, stuart and we've fought that very hard and tried to put up a roadblock. senator durbin said he would not support it, the the house said it would not support it. governor quinn wants one because he doesn't want to face the truth that he has to reform pension. stuart: that's interesting, governor quinn wants a bailout. do you know that for a fact. come out and said-- >> in the past he alluded that, but he refuses to say i will not take a federal bailout under any circumstances and we continue to call for him to do that. a horrible problem you quoted 96 billion dollars, and when you just the discount rate. 200 billion dollars. 54 billion in unfunded health care retirement berths and 9 billion dollars in unpaid bills from the past. a big problem that requires big solution, stuart. stuart: if the governor is unwilling, if the politicians of

illinois are unwilling to take big action, that's on the pensions, on the 9 billion dollars worth of debt, your own vendors in illinois, if you're not willing to take that big time action, then you have to have a bailout or you go bust. >> it would be terrible to have a bailout for the rest of the country. all of your viewers, 49 states, many states doing a responsible job managing their own finances should never support a bailout and congressional delegates from the other 49 states should not support a bailout. the ideas of federalism, each state is responsible for spending. and like your neighbor that put on a pool when they couldn't afford it, or a family room and they couldn't afford it, we have to fix it ourselves. stuart: oh, john, i am with you 100%, yes, you should fix it yourself, but i don't think you will. and i can see the day coming, i don't know when, but at some point, people who lend illinois money will say, enough. we're not lending you any more.

we're just not going to do it. at that point you've got a crunch and it's at that point, i think, that the governor says, hey, i need some federal help. >> well, what's interesting, stuart, that's a good point. we pay 600 million dollars a year in extra interest costs because our rating is so low, and what's really fascinating to me, what's going on, you've got super democratic in chambers and democrat controlled this state so long and now who the press and pundits and democratic politicians are blaming to find a solution, republicans. representative tom morris, a republican from the suburbs has been courageous on this and people are trying to blame them when it's matigan, madden and clint who have the power to fix it. stuart: john, please come back, i'm interested in a crunch deadline. when is the crunch going to come, this year, next year, i want to know that and so do our viewers. john tillman, thank you for joining us, come back again. >> you bet. stuart: all right, a little early i'm going to the gold

report. no special reason, but gold is up 18 bucks an ounce, $1,674.10 to be precise, that's where we are on bullion this morning. when you think of president bill clinton, you think father of the year? we're not making this up because he's been nominated as father of the year. jedia bbla is here, and we'll have her take next. ♪ a day i always remember, yes, i will ♪ ♪ ♪

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>> bill clinton, he's been called a lot of things over the years and now you can add father of the year to the list. yep, the national father's day council, which is big in giving out this honor for 72 years, has named mr. clinton one of its recipients for 2013. jedia bila is with me. right from the get-go, bill clinton as father of the year. >> i'm glad it wasn't husband of the year all i have to say about that. i don't know he could be a great dad to chelsea, that's possible. i don't agree with his politics,

but this was a guy accused of rape, accused of sexual assault, lost his law license as a result of it. he does have a daughter. we all know what happened in the oval office with lewinsky, i don't know that i would consider him a great role model for women, but as far as how he treats his daughter. who am i to judge. i don't know the inner workings of the house, i'm sure he loves her very much and supportive of her endeavors. stuart: i personally think that maybe fidelity is part of being a father. >> yeah, you're teaching your daughter some lessons and giving her an idea what it means to be a man. i don't know that he's done a great job of that. stuart: i rather feel that this is a heavily politicized award and that had mr. clinton not helped president obama get reelected, perhaps he would not be the father of the year. i suspect at that he is the father of the year because he played such a big role in getting president obama reelected. and that's just my position. >> yeah. stuart: a bit like the nobel prizes, al gore got a nobel

peace prize for the environment because he opposed george bush. i mean, you win these prizes for political reasons not for actually be the recipient of a valid prize. >> that's true, but in a case like this, people's reactions are going to be huh? say what? >> there you go. >> make it somebody that people don't have mouths agape when you declare who it is. stuart: we wanted charles to have opinion on this, charles payne, he was supposed to be here. where is he, any idea where charles is? ah, he was on the fox news channel, wait a second. do i hear the man? yes, charles, enter. charles: can i come in. >> yea, welcome. stuart: you've got a mic on. charles: i do a have mic on. stuart: 20 seconds to tell me your opinion of bill clinton father of the year. charles: i don't like the awards going to the big name guys. there's fathers out there working two jobs, going to school, struggling. tired of these guys, celebrity culture we live in, got to be bill clinton one year, and bloomberg the next year, forget

about it, i don't want to hear about these guys. i want them to bring in joe smoe, busting his butt, working two jobs, taking a course on-line, feeding three daughters. that's the person i want. by the way, speaking of father of the year, are you familiar with shawty lo. stuart: no. charles: a new reality tv show, a rapper with 11 kids with ten women. and i understand he's a finalist for the award. stuart: you're joking. charles: i'm not joking. stuart: he was a finalist. charles: i'm joking, a retalent show, although he claims he takes care of the kids. stuart: you know, charles, you were worth waiting for. [laughter] >> honey boo boo or shawty lo one of them. stuart: charles payne, ladies a and gentlemen, we have it. and why is congress ignoring common sense spending difficulties as outlined by the

nonpartisan cbo? we have the cuts and amounts that would be saved, plus, the long, bright-- the longer bright in the economy-- blight in the economy might be housing. wait a second. the lone good spot for the economy may be housing, but we've got a new rule system going into place that might make it harder to get a mortgage. we'll be back in just a second.

stuart: new at 10:00 we get a latest reading on mortgage rates. no matter how they stay, where it faced a, a new federal rule will make it harder for you to get a loan. lenders will be required to prove that you the lender has to prove they used henry pay your mortgage loan. also new at 10:00 the cbo, they have a plan that will cut $4.6 trillion in federal spending. why is congress and the president totally ignoring their own bean counters? check the big board, the first half-hour of business we are 48 points for the dow, a 13-4 is where we are. here is the company thursday morning. conservative commentator jetted i let blr is here, charles payne finally made it, nicole petallides is always on the floor of the stock exchange.

new at 10:00 new rules -- hold on -- 3.34% is the new 30 year rate on fixed-rate loans. i always get surprised at this. 3.34%. never expected to see it this low but there you go. new at 10:00, what is the rate? 3.4%. i am sorry. i made a mistake. 3.4%. that is the new 30 year fixed rate mortgage rate from freddie mac. still unbelievably low. never expected to see 3.4. new at 10:00 new rules might make it tougher for you to buy a home. the consumer financial protection bureau will impose a range of restrictions on lenders including making sure borrowers will be able to afford their mortgage. that means the bank has to make sure that you can repay.

they have to make sure you have a job, you have income, you got good credit, the onus is on the bank in the future. charles: this is the first time the government said this is what we call qualify loan. they are making that determination, total debt can't be above 43% of monthly income including mortgage. banks don't have to go this route but if they do they are 4 different protections from all the new rules they will be hit with this avalanche of the rules so anything that doesn't want to comply with this, more than likely will be taking a huge risk and also probably be charging exorbitant amount of fees from the borrowers and this hurts the lower end and ignores the realities of where we are in america with these households with a husband and wife, maybe also the mother who is working and these households with more than one wage earner makes it very complicated. stuart: doesn't it get to back to where we should be?

common-sense financing of mortgages, no more liar loans, no more no doc loans, no more interest loans. charles: between liar loan where someone without a job can say i want a house and where you can get a situation where the household is able to make the payments although on paper they look higher than they are. >> given the personal that this will keep a lot of people unable to get a loan. that is a reality we will have to face and it will be backlash against a policy like this. i think some people will say we are on the right track and holding people accountable for what they do and another segment of the population says what about low income folks? economy is what it is and they -- [talking over each other] charles: the housing bubble -- [talking over each other] charles: give loans to people being ignored by banks in the first place. stuart: don't want to get back to that. this takes us away from that looks to me like common sense.

>> i agree with you -- charles: some banks will take a shot and will be their prerogative and also be allowed to go out of business. stuart: if you take a loan and you are a borrower and get a loan and down the road you say i couldn't afford this loan you can sue the lender, you can take the lender to court. you shouldn't have given me this loan. it is a big control of the market. let's check in with nicole petallides, nokia shares way up. why is that? nicole: a big move, nokia coming out with an update on their sales and these fourth quarter results are looking really good, beating their own estimates so this faces intense competition from samsung and other names in the same realm but up 16.5% so this is a huge. stuart: wife and microsoft? microsoft -- stop laughing. microsoft buys software that

goes to the phone which is selling well. nicole: what is it doing? stuart: i am looking. nicole: it is up 0.4. full disclosure, stuart varney owns microsoft shares. stuart: anyone who watches this program knows very well i am a long-suffering microsoft shareholder. look at that. up $0.10. there is a rally. there are conflicting reports regarding how walmart is involved in the gun control discussions. at the white house are they meeting with the vice president or the attorney general? regardless, walmart is involved. joining us is kim carney from the washington examiner. walmart is involved in these discussions about gun-control and gun policy going forward. what does the administration want from walmart?

>> an administration official told the washington post earlier this week or last week that is a no wal-mart stands to benefit from a restriction on private parties sales. if the government makes it harder for me to sell my gun to you, more guns will be bought in stores. like a car dealers benefited the make it hard for me to sell my car so it is a difficult situation of the administration looking for a business that stands to profit from government intervention. stuart: not from the administration's point of view i understand why they're doing it. they are collecting a big gun seller, get him on board with controls on gun sales and it will probably work. >> part of it is exactly that. if you can regulate walmart's competitors out of business you help walmart and get walmart support and it has worked in the past. they get walmart to join on the obamacare idea of making employers pay for health care because walmart knows it could a

lower price for the same health-care than any competitor could. they wanted the regulation to hit smaller competitors harder so why not get walmart in this? stuart: i understand walmart will meet with eric holder, not necessarily with the joe biden series of meetings. did we get into that? >> i don't read anything into that. i was very surprised. i saw the joe biden move and walmart move as part of the same effort by the white house to make sure they're gun control push didn't look like some elitist east coast's liberal thing and was more we do understand read america and the south and rural america and reaching out to joe biden and wal-mart was important. holder doesn't come from that part of the democratic party. that makes it more confusing for me. i don't have any insight for you there. stuart: i want your opinion on my opinion. i think at at some point president obama will go the

executive order routes, bypassing congress and simply doing it and i think he will win public opinion by doing that because the public wants something done and is unsatisfied with what congress is able to achieve so with the president goes around congress he will win. >> if you are just looking at the politics of the the story you are telling is correct but if we say are any of your viewers out there gun owners or want to buy guns did they worry about this? no. there's a limit to what the president can do to an executive order. what obama will do if he does go that route will do something that is entirely symbolic, gets media praise, makes people want action on guns feel happy and that doesn't really infringe on the ability of people to buy, sell land own guns. stuart: the white house has confirmed to rich edson that walmart will be there at the meeting. the white house meeting with the joe biden group.

okay. the attorney general is leading the meeting at the white house and walmart will be a part of that meeting. thanks for joining us. very interesting perspective on the administration trying to cull of private enterprise to get on board with a gun control. thanks for joining us. as we said before, hollywood is at the gun summit at the white house. what blame do movies deserve for gun violence in america? we will discuss it at 10:45 this morning. here is another very big number we are talking about today. one in four children participated in the food stamp program in 2011 according to the agriculture and census department. the taxpayers' feeding twenty million children at america today. defenders say this gives us healthy youngsters that helps the economy. jedediah belar, i am flat out astonished at twenty million kids, in four being fed by the federal government.

>> it is becoming an entitlement culture where this is becoming the norm. people are saying this is normal. there is a segment of the population that needs and relies on food stamps and need to get it but this should be something that transitions you to a better life, not some you have on a permanent basis. kind of like the unemployment benefits extension when you think about it. you give those that help people move along and hopefully get a job but you don't extend them to the point where that becomes the norm and that is happening with food stamps. the statistics with young people who are just now going to be entering the job market and have this sense of entitlement along with them is going to be a huge load for them. stuart: john stossel was on the show earlier and he is doing some investigation of this, sent people into an employment offices and say you got a job, there are no jobs but eager to sign people up for food stamps. go-ahead, take it. charles: to a large degree there

is this faustian bill to would. a lot of people said listen, you sold me. give me all these goodies which add up to the equivalent of a $50,000 a year job and you have my vote. we are in this together. it feels like the administration has been pushing this very hard. toomey it is a shame. so many people grow up and never had capped the potential they have, the god-given ability inside of them but sometimes you're pressed against the wall, triggers put it out there. sometimes not having a job is when you start your own business, sometimes -- if you make poverty too comfortable people can't escape it. the eagle built his nest with thorns and a lot of feathers and everything and as the chicken gets bigger moves up so the only thing left are the floor and you eventually have to leave the nest. we are doing the opposite with people in poverty. we are making it so close she is harder to leave. stuart: all apologist.

that was good. fine analogy if ever i heard one. some members of france's socialist party are having second thoughts about the 75% tax on incomes over a million euros. joining us from washington, senior research fellow with the mercator center at george mason university. born and educated in paris, raised in normandy. welcome to the program. >> thank you for having me. stuart: we find it hard to believe french socialists are having second thoughts about a 75% tax which we thought they love the. are they missing gerard depardieu? >> i guess they are. we are not surprised that people are reacting so vibrantly to this punishing tax rate. i am always astounded that to realize lawmakers are actually surprised that taxpayers won't allow them to subject them to

these punishing rates. stuart: i want to move to a second subject. i understand that the government in paris is actively moving against american corporations accusing them of non-payment for avoiding taxation. what are they doing and is that statement accurate? >> it is accurate but it is a typical french government response, reminds me of my 8-year-old, the dog ate my homework type of thing. this is a high taxation that is complaining it has -- the deuce with the golden age because of its high taxes and instead of actually doing some in your thinking and thinking what do we do to retain, what can we do so these companies will want to maximize the amount of revenue they report, what they are doing, blaming -- the company -- typical french response.

stuart: would you ever go back and live in france again? >> no. certainly not as long as i am working. stuart: thank you very much for joining us. always a pleasure. the government's own bean counters have outlined a $4.6 trillion in cuts the government could make. why isn't congress or the president acting on those suggestions. mike reagan is next chiming in and billions of dollars the government could be saving but isn't. take a look at this. does that look like a real signature to you? more like scribbles but it could end up on your money very soon. that is jack lew at signature. [ woman ] if you have the audacity to believe

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stuart: several negative reports from the retail sector. aerospace will says demand weakened during the holiday season, 6%, now is coming back from its forecast, shares down 9%. erica stall's rival american eagle had a better holiday season. tiffany not optimistic for 2013. disappointing sales over the holiday season, typically stock is down today. supervalue says it plans to sell five retail grows restrained with investor group, reporting a profit of $16 million, that

stock is up 13%. president obama will nominate jack lew as the new treasury secretary replacing and 8. everyone is talking about his signature. we will deal with it in a moment. this is $100,000. we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much. i appreciate it. i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. your money needs an ally.

stuart: jack -- jack lew is the white house chief of staff, he will renominated as treasury secretary.

the biggest impact would be from his signature. look at what the new dollar bill would look like if jack lew became treasury secretary. that is a very squiggly signature. not exactly a john hancock. i maintain that is the biggest impact of all. the treasury secretary, no impact on policy at all. >> i went to catholic school for years and penmanship was taken very seriously. i would have been in a lot of trouble. as a former teacher i have to say he needs some handwriting classes. stuart: in the old days if you started to write with your left and the teacher stop you and you had to write with your right hand so you never wrote properly in your life. look like jack lew was originally left-handed. charles: i was going to write someone a note a week ago and forgot how to write in cursive. it has been that long. but jack lew never knew. stuart: more serious regarding spending and your dollar.

the government's very alan bean calendar, the congressional budget office have numbers that show many more cuts could be made. look at this list. cut funding for non-defense agencies by 1%. that is a cut, how much would that saved? $932 billion over ten years. next, cut the growth in funding for the defense department. just don't cut it, cut the growth. the cbo said that would save $862 billion. how about raising the earliest eligibility age for social security? that would save another $144 billion. just those cuts we have mentioned and that is a small fraction of them, $2 trillion would be saved. you could get $4.6 trillion worth of savings if the cbos proposals were put in place. mike reagan joins us now. what i just described,

government bean counters's bonet ideas. know where are they cutting spending, they are trimming a little bit here and there and yet we are not going to get anything done. your analysis? >> absolutely right. we won't get anything done because where do we put the $50 million for out the subsidies, where do we put the bridge to nowhere, where we put all those things i put into this piece of legislation in the first place. washington knows what needs to be done. the fact is they refuse to do a on a regular basis. that concept about the cbo, would you agree that the american public would say yes, but those we elect to represent us have to go to case street to get permission to do their job. it is time they quit talking to k street and start talking to the people who vote for them and put them back in washington d.c.. it needs to be done.

one penny out of a dollar,% and they can't do it. stuart: i don't think president obama wants to cut spending at all. that is something i don't think he wants to do. that is the president. then look at the republicans in congress, they ask themselves can we get reelected if we seriously trim spending of any kind? the answer is no, we can't. you haven't been built momentum to keep spending, no cuts. >> the reality is they better do something because my daughter ashley found out she could be making $2,400 less the year. she makes $40,000 because of the 2% increase, she is now making $200 a month less than what she was making last year. what happened in the holidays? it will get worse because for ashley that is a refrigerator, that is a washing machine, that is a car payment, that is gasoline. the people who got their taxes

increased to 39% will not be hurt as badly as those who got that 2% added back in. washington needs to wake up to what is going on and start cutting spending in washington d.c. and if they don't they won't get reelected from the right or the left. stuart: i disagree with you. the president will go around congress. if he can't get a debt ceiling, raise the debt ceiling i think he will invoke the fourteenth amendment which says the debt must be paid, he will go around congress, invoke the fourteenth amendment and say keep on spending, keep on borrowing. >> he may very well do that but that is because the republicans refuse to define the issue. instead they are defending the issue. when the conservatives or the republicans are not defining they are losing. the republicans have a chance to take the cbo numbers and define the issue and put it back on barack obama. if they do not do that then

barack obama wins the day and america loses. stuart: that is exactly what is going to happen. i am sorry we are out of time. thanks for joining us and i am sure you will be waiting eagerly for governor brown's budget to be released later today. >> thank you for that. stuart: mike reagan, thanks very much. stock early on entitlements. my take on food stamps and children is next.

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stuart: one child in every four is now fed by you, the taxpayer. here is my take on that. that statistic neatly captures our new culture of dependency. the food stamp program feeds twenty million children. that is an astonishing number. the richest society on earth has a quarter of its children dependent on the government for food and this is president obama's creation. he did it. an extra fifteen million recipients have been added in the obama years and the cost is doubled. this administration gets people to sign up. this is what we want? a handout culture which drags

youngsters in right from the start of their lives where dependency is taught from the get go. surely not. it goes against the american dream. i wasn't born here but i think i know what america is all about or used to be all about. individual responsibility, personal effort, liberty and justice for all. where is the liberty in dependency? where is the individual responsibility in looking to somebody else to feed you? defenders say food stamps for kids helps the economy and make some healthy. maybe. probably true. one in four children eating courtesy of taxpayers' changes the nature of our society. entitlement is not a birdie. dependency is not freedom. a handout is not prosperity.

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are building. whar you building? new phones, new headquarters? what are they building? nobody knows so they're making all this buzz, very apple like to build buzz, causing stock to move higher. stuart: it is working. what happens if they reveal what they are building and the market doesn't like it very much? they don't do and apple. that is a problem. nicole: it is not even -- stuart: i think i just lost sound from the floor -- your mike just died. i've got to move on. the dow was up 19 points, 13-4 just holding. governor chris christie very fast to blame republicans in the house but not passing the $60.4 billion sandy relief bill that was filled with pork. that was the senate bill. he focused on hurricane sandy relief again yesterday in his state of the state message in new jersey.

listen to this. >> republicans and democrats will never stand silent when our citizens are being short changed. stuart: got a standing ovation for that. joining us is dan henninger what the wall street journal. i am trying to sort this out. $60.4 billion, there wasn't any time because of the fiscal cliff. with your problem with the $60.4 billion bill? >> i didn't have a problem with the $60.4 billion bill. the problem was we all know it became a huge public issue because the house failed to vote on in new year's day when they were struggling to pass the fiscal cliff tax bill. that caused the new york new jersey delegation to go ballistic led by governor chris christie who said that it was on john boehner that people in new jersey were continuing to suffer

because of sandy. peter king, long island congressman said republicans should withhold donations to the republican party because of this vote. wait a minute. if the idea is that people right here and now are suffering because of sandy than their beat is with the federal emergency management agency whose director on december 4th told congress they have enough money to get through spring helping people. they have immediate needs right now chris christie's beef is with his friend barack obama and fema, not john boehner and house republicans. that $60 billion for the whole of 2013 and long-term construction project. stuart: they imply there is no money to help the victims. there is money. is right there and is available now. >> it will last until february or march. the head of the appropriations committee, congressman harold rogers of kentucky put $23 billion into the bill to help fema get past spring when

their money ran out. and congressman from new jersey who had been interacting with regional officials up here put another $33 billion into the bill. about $60 billion was put in the house bill by republicans to help people of the northeast and they are getting denounced on new year's day because they didn't pass it january 1st. stuart: our beef with $60.4 billion bill was it was loaded with pork, $150 billion for alaska fisheries. is that not a valid objection? >> absolutely valid objection but the pork was put in by the senate. when it got to the house which is gun shy of year marks the appropriations committee took the pork out of the bill. if you are voting for it in the house the port is no longer an issue. stuart: does that mean chris christie fired both barrels at the wrong targets? >> it is held by pork he should be firing at the senators who insist on putting this in but the idea that if they voted

january 1st or january fifteenth, sixty billion dollars to new jersey and new york is irrelevant. i think he was shooting at the wrong targets. >> he does not hold senate accountable for a bill stuck with pork and instead put that pressure on the house is interesting for a guy who may talk about having star power in 2016 as a credential candidate to make that kind of move. people saw him as someone who doesn't care about a bill stuffed with pork. he should be standing up to that kind of nonsense if he has intentions politically in the future. >> he has built a reputation as a fiscal conservative, someone who is tied with the state's money. you are talking about any event that happened in late october. congress has to interact with all sorts of agents, not just fema, the small business administration, corps of engineers to figure out how to allocate that $60 billion within a month and a half period. if the idea now is we should

just take $60 billion which i must say is an almost incomprehensible amount of money. stuart: that is a huge amount of money. would since hurricane andrew's bills $7 billion? $60 billion for sandy? >> the annual budget is $43 billion. stuart: the annual budget of the state of new jersey's $30 billion. what is going on? >> it is not only difficult but there is some responsibility in making sure that if you're going to spend $60 billion you are not just dropping out of planes are bringing it to new jersey and trucks that there is some effort made to figure out how it is spent. stuart: if i am the victim of a natural disaster i lose my house and all the positions therein is it right to ask the taxpayers of the united states to build me a new house and make sure i am made whole? >> i think there are aspects of these disasters in which there is enormous personal human tragedy and most americans feel

a moral obligation to help people who have been devastated like that. charles: people not asking for a house, just saying give me shelter. stuart: that is the job of theme of. where are they? charles: i disagree on the political side. chris christie is positioning himself as a hybrid part republican part democrat kind of candidate who can appeal to all americans when the time is right. >> folks on a rider not happy with that. his positions on gun control, he looks like a guy who doesn't care about -- that is what people care about. deficit-reduction. charles: could republicans have brought this up? didn't they make that pea are slip once again with this? >> consider what they're going through with the fiscal cliff. everyone's attention was on the debt. that is the only thing john boehner was working on. they got to be point on new

year's eve where they were exhausted and couldn't get -- charles: someone watching the show in new york -- they could have stayed two more hours. >> fema has $6.5 billion in its accounts rainout to help those people. if there's a problem getting fema money to people now the beef is with president obama's administration. stuart: thank you very much. gun-control advocates say movers and video games are partly to blame for what they say is a culture of violence in america. today hollywood join the discussion at the white house. we will deal with it next.

stuart: another hit for casual dining on ruby tuesday, posted a loss in the last quarter. the restaurant chain blames customers being cautious in the current economy. $200 billion less in spending power from the fiscal cliff is going to help? probably not. shares of ruby tuesday down 50%. sales of jewelry stores, same-store sales up 2% from a holidays, that stock is up 8%. nokia big winner after selling $4.4 million in its new smart phones. look at that stock go. research in motion the blackberrycompany announced three major cellphone carriers, at&t, verizon and t mobile will

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whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. stuart: good news for urban outfitters. give the news and tell us were the stock is. nicole: the stock is at a 52 week high jumping on numbers, holiday sales are up 15% year over year and urban outfitters is saying because all their

brands did well not only did urban outfitters see the jump but people that increased 33% and also anthropology, another name under the umbrella 5% doing well with the brand, inventory management, great sales numbers makes for a great day. stuart: you missed charles payne doing a little dance because you have been recommending -- charles: not only my subscribers but pushed hard on the network. anybody watching those segments should be making a lot of money. stuart: and anthropology store. charles: i have been insider and outfitters, one of my son's favorite stores. nicole: do the dance again. stuart: like asking me to sing. thanks, everybody. serious stuff. at the white house meeting, the nra is involved, members of the entertainment industry, hollywood will all be there, discussing violence in film and

video games. let me bring in kelly james of the weekly standard. first of all, how much influence do you think violent movies and video games actually have on our society? >> no question art affects culture and right now movies and video games and television are the leaders of the culture. japan for example has a long tradition of violence in movies and their murder rate is much lower than ours. where i am originally from in canada we invited american culture and watch the same things you do because we watch them from you. canada has a lower rate. it has something to do with the culture but i don't think it is right to say that if we got rid of violence in movies and video games it would change overnight. there are too many factors to blame on one single thing. stuart: how would you eradicate

gun violence from movies? how would you censer movies to actually get rid of guns being fired and people being killed? >> we have the first amendment, it would be very difficult. secondly i am not sure we should want to. today was the oscar nominations one of the best pictures nominated was quentin tarantino's violent movie but the violence serves a purpose. it is to remind us of how brutal slavery was. you don't understand that without seeing it firsthand. i am not saying everyone should see this movie especially young children, but i think there can be a place for violence even if we could get rid of it which is impossible. that is one thing i don't understand with the gun debate, we have the same people who are pointing out that the drug war has not eradicated drugs, thinking a war on guns will eradicate guns. stuart: very interesting. what do you say, i don't see any

moves to restrict gun violence in movies, don't see how you could do it and i am not convinced it would have that big a difference if you did. >> i don't think it would. it is part of so many plots, crime stories, this comes down to parental rights. you have to make sure if you have young children and don't want to expose the things, we can't regulate everything. we can't basically say we are going to ban this or that to prevent some maniac in society from doing harm. we would not have a free society anymore that was the case and that can't be. before it is disingenuous when hollywood says we make these movies to send a message this stuff doesn't work and a perfect examples are faced with our pacino, that is the basis for every would-be drug dealer in america. everybody who saw that movie set i am going to do the same thing just a little different so i don't die like he did. i don't know why we don't take on the music industry particularly the rap industry which is where it promotes

violence and glorifies violence in a way that is so pro found where you have 40 people killed in a weekend in chicago last year, that is the stuff we don't want to talk about, it is not politically correct. there could be some changes made the there's a cultural aspect. americans watch the same thing as others but for some reason the impact -- stuart: back to kelly james, i think the president is probably going to issue an executive order banning assault rifles or taking some action. i think he will go around congress and will be successful in doing that because the public wants something done. don't know exactly what will work but it wants something done and i think the president will win on this one. >> i think you are right. this is a problem, joe biden organizing meetings at the last minute, some people are not able to make it. they are trying to rush something in and the executive is the branch that makes the quick decisions when they are

necessary but we also have congress. we have a deliberative body for a reason and if you are sidestepping that and doing something quickly, you are ignoring the deliberative process that the founders knew was an important part of making laws. these are laws that are going to have an effect for many years to come and i don't think it is something one tragedy should mean bad policy for years. stuart: thanks for joining us. >> before we go i have one thing for you. last time we talked about piers morgan and i have a solution. hugo chavez almost dead. venezuela bans gun ownership. i am thinking peers morgan may have a new job opening. stuart: we hear you. thank you very much. nissan gets a $1.4 billion taxpayer loan from the government but with japan be willing to do the same for general motors or ford? that is next.

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stuart: nissan is a japanese company that gets a $1.4 billion loan from the federal government. and all electric version of the leaf car right here. let me ask you this.

charles and jedediah belar, do you think the japanese government would ever loan general motors to build a plant in japan? before they would probably charge that extra tax to build a plant there but what can't give them any money. stuart: this is $1.4 billion, a plan to build an america hiring american people and jobs will be in america. you don't like that? >> the name of the car might be part of the problem. put a leaf against a jaguar you might have a problem. stuart: this is real fast. the monopoly people are holding a poll, they want to get rid of one of their tokens. can you put them on screen which token they have? have we got that? yes please. i can't even see it quite frankly. s shoe, dog, battles it, top hat, iron and something else. can see it. which one would you get rid of? >> the symbol because i can sew a button on a jacket.

charles: i would probably get rid of the symbol as well. i like them all to be quite frank. i am nostalgia. stuart: do you know what a symbol is? do you know how to use it? they know what it does? you don't prick your finger, you would get rid of it. masochists. the highlight reel is next. [ male announcer ] how can power consumption in china, impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. ro price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing.